Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the head of Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants massive cuts to America’s core safety net programs.
“Reports don’t mean anything, you’ve got to actually take action,” Musk said in an interview Monday on FOX Business Network, explaining that his goal is to slash up to $700 billion from entitlement programs — essential services and programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and food stamps.
Since Trump took office, DOGE and Musk have initiated mass firings across the government, while calling for numerous contracts and leases to be terminated. Trump’s hatchet men have also specifically honed in on Social Security. Already, they’ve closed 10 Social Security Administration field offices, with plans to close dozens more, while also eliminating workers who were meant to help seniors access their benefits. Social Security experts and insiders warn these cuts — and the DOGE team’s access to data and operations they don’t understand — threaten the program’s ability to function, and could lead to checks not going out to seniors who rely on them.
Trump and Musk have also repeatedly, falsely suggested that Social Security payments could be going out to dead people who are over 100 years old — or even 300 years old, as Trump claimed in his address to Congress last week. Musk has also asserted, with absolutely no basis, that Social Security is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Musk’s slash-and-burn role in Trump’s administration appears to be generating real blowback: Tesla’s stock has been plunging as vehicle sales decline, activists protest outside the company’s showrooms, and vandals tag Cybertrucks with graffiti and dog feces.
Despite reporting from The Washington Post on Monday suggesting that DOGE officials are starting to worry about bad “PR,” Musk suggested later in the day he could push for big cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and other safety net programs.
“The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — most of the federal spending is entitlements — that’s the big one to eliminate,” he said. “That’s sort of half trillion, maybe $600-700 billion a year.”
During an interview with FBN host Larry Kudlow on his program Monday, unelected co-President Elon Musk calls for big cuts to the social safety net, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, along with unemployment benefits and food assistance.
